The government on Thursday extended the deadline for filing income tax return for assessment year 2018-19.

The deadline of July 31, 2018 has been extended by a month to 31st August 2018

Assessee can now file their income tax return (ITR) for financial year 2017-18 (AY 2018-2019) by August 31 without any penalty charges.

Relief to the taxpayers: This will be a relief for taxpayers who are yet to file their tax returns as from this year, as per a budget provision, late filing of tax returns will attract a penalty of up to ₹10,000.

Until last assessment year (AY) there was no penalty for filing belated income tax returns. However, this penalty is applicable from AY 2018-19. A new section 234F was inserted by the government in the Income Tax Act. As per the new provision, a penalty of ₹5,000 will be levied if the return is filed after the due date but before 31 December and the penalty will be ₹10,000 after 31 December.

However, if the taxpayer’s income is less than ₹5 lakh, maximum penalty levied is capped at ₹1,000.

Filing Income tax return in quite easy on the Income Tax eFiling website:

Check which ITR form is applicable to you – Check here If you are a salaried person, most likely you need to file ITR 1 or ITR 2